By Ibrahim Mshelizza ( Fri Mar 30)
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Suspected members of Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram killed four people on Friday when they robbed a bank and stormed a police station in northeast Borno state, a government official said.
Gunmen killed two people during a raid on a UBA branch in Askira town in the early hours before attacking the local police station, where an officer and a civilian were shot dead, local government spokesman Malam Yuthama said.
The strikes come less than two days after suspected sect members freed 14 people in a prison break in neighbouring Yobe state and attacked a nearby police station. Three members of Boko Haram died during those attacks, the local police said.
The sect has been unrelenting in its low level violent campaign against President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. A brief flirtation with peace talks collapsed at the beginning of last week.
Months of gun and bomb attacks blamed on the sect have killed hundreds since it launched an uprising more than two years ago to try to carve out an Islamic state in Nigeria.
Nigerian forces have been carrying out house-to-house searches this week in the sect’s home town of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. Similar crackdowns in the past have pushed attacks into neighbouring states, including Yobe.
One of Boko Haram’s primary demands is that its members are freed from prison. While the government has refused any releases there have been several jail breaks in the northeast in the last year.
